Hey friends! Sorry for the super slow blogging week—I’m back in action now. I had a really relaxing weekend in Boston, hitting up the opening of Handle Bar’s new Harvard Square studio, teaching a private class at Btone, doing a class there the next morning (that kicked my ass), and just laying around reading in between (I’m reading Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town and can’t put it down). The next four weekends I’ll be out of town for weddings and quick trips so it was pretty glorious to just stay local and do a whole lot of nothing.

Anyway, on to today’s post. When I teach rowing (or do it on my own), I like to get off the rower and mix it up. My butt goes numb, I start having PTSD flashbacks to my days on the treadmill—as great of a workout as the rower provides, I just can’t sit on it for 45 minutes straight. I find even just a couple brief breaks of doing exercises next to the machine or creatively using the rower on the floor helps me stay engaged. I’m sure any IndoRow purists out there reading this post are cringing, but here 5 non-rowing moves you can do with the rower.

5 Non-Rowing Exercises You Can Do on a Rower

Plank to Pike

Start in a plank position with your feet on the seat of the rower, facing the back. Keeping your legs straight, pike your hips up into the air, bringing your body into an upside down “v” shape. Try to keep your heels lifted as you do this, sliding on the balls of your feet. Once you hit your peak (if you have tight hamstrings, you may not be able to get your hips up very high—that’s ok!), slowly lower back down into plank position.

Back Lunge (with Pull Slide at Bottom)

Start facing the back standing to the right side of the rower with your right foot planted firmly on the ground, weight in your heel, and the ball of the left foot planted on the seat of the rower. Bending your right knee, slide the left foot back as you lower into a lunge (get the right knee to a 90-degree bend if possible). Once you reach the bottom, press through your right heel as you straighten your leg and rise back up to standing.

Add in a pull at the bottom to make it harder: You can spice things up by adding in a pull slide at the bottom of each lunge. Keeping the right knee bent at 90 degrees with weight in your right heel, bend the back left knee, sliding it forward and then extending it straight back behind you again. Don’t change height as you do this; stay low in your lunge! You can do one at the base of each lunge or hold low for an extended period of time, sliding that back knee in and out. The longer you hold, the harder this move is.

Bear Crunches

Start in a plank position with your feet on the seat of the rower, facing the back. Keeping your hips level with your shoulders, back flat, slide your feet forward, bending your knees in towards your elbows. Slide feet back out, straightening your legs into plank position. Two most common errors while doing this are lifting the booty up as your feet slide in and letting the low back arch down towards the floor. Pull your abs in tight the whole time, maintaining a flat back.

Squatting Bicep Curls

Facing forward and straddling the rower, grab the handle with an underhand grip. Squat down, weight in your heels, butt and hips back and down, chest open. Holding your elbows at chest-to-shoulder height with your palms facing up, curl your hands in towards your shoulders, pulling against the resistance of the rower wheel. Release back out, keeping your elbows lifted. Especially if you’re using a water rower that doesn’t allow you to increase resistance, this is an exercise you should do for a longer period of time. It’s a lighter resistance so you want high reps for it to be effective. Try to hold a squat the whole time for an added low body burn.

Side Lunge (with Lateral Slide at Bottom)

Start facing the side standing at the end of the rower with your right foot planted firmly on the ground, weight in your heel, and the left foot planted on the seat of the rower. Bending your right knee, slide the left foot to the side as you lower into a side lunge (get the right knee to a 90-degree bend if possible). Think of sitting in a chair on that right leg; it’s essentially a single-leg squat. Once you reach the bottom, press through your right heel as you straighten your leg and rise back up to standing.

Add in a pull at the bottom to make it harder: You can spice things up by adding in a pull slide at the bottom of each lunge. Keeping the right knee bent at 90 degrees with weight in your right heel, bend the back left knee, sliding it in towards you and then extending it straight back away from you again. Don’t change height as you do this; stay low in your squat! You can do one at the base of each lunge or hold low for an extended period of time, sliding that back knee in and out. The longer you hold, the harder this move is.

If you follow other healthy lifestyle bloggers, you may already be familiar with Kohl’s #MakeYourMove campaign. I’m really excited to join them over the next few months to share some ways I’m staying active this summer (and enjoying myself while doing so!). I’ve also got a few workouts coming your way that you can do outdoors as well as in your dorm room for all you heading back to school next month.

The #MakeYourMove campaign is all about encouraging people to live healthily in a way that’s fun and enjoyable—it’s all about finding those activities that energize and motivate you. I love that because I truly believe the best workout regime is quite simply one you enjoy. If you find something you love, you’ll stay motivated to continue it regularly—there are so many ways to workout and stay active that there really is no need to do something you dread. So with that being said, I thought it’d be fun to share the summer bucket list I made at the start of this month. I’ll update you all at the end of the season with how I did at crossing items off the list.

My Active Summer Bucket List

Rent bikes (preferably on the Cape or Islands) | I’d love to skip the cab rides and rent bikes for the day/weekend on the Vineyard or Nantucket and cruise around on two wheels. The islands are small and totally manageable by bike—I don’t know why I don’t do this all the time!

Attend an outdoor group fitness class | There are tons of opportunities to workout in Boston for free—bootcamps in the Commons, Pilates outside of Equinox, yoga on the Esplanade, the list goes on.

Get in a full beach day complete with games | I grew up on a beach so it’s a little sad that this doesn’t happen more frequently these days. I’d love to do a full beach day (get there before the crowds, stay until around 5pm) complete with volleyball, bocce, paddle boards and other games.

Run Harvard Stadium | The November Project does this as a group every week, but even if I can’t make it to one of those sessions, I’d love to wake up early one morning and attempt the stadium myself. I don’t know about doing the entire stadium (hello, dead legs), but at least half would make it a win in my book.

Go kayaking | My grandparents have kayaks at their house in Falmouth; my parents have one on the Vineyard; you can rent them at the Charles River here in Boston—I have no excuse not to go!

Practice yoga on the beach | Preferably as a class, but hey, if I have to be that lone oddball doing downward dog at the beach, I’ll go there. This is on my bucket list partially because I think it’d be incredibly calming, but mostly—let’s be real here—because it would make a darn good Instagram. Priorities! (Kidding. Maybe…)

Treat myself to a massage | Maybe it’s a sign I’m getting old, but I’ve realized recently how important it is to care for my body with stretching, foam rolling and massaging. Teaching group fitness and being active in my free time can cause a lot of knots, tight muscles and the occasional ache. My body deserves a massage! And I actually just bought a foam roller from Kohl’s, so there will be some self massages in there, too.

I love starting the week with a workout post because Mondays always feel like a fresh beginning. I had an awesome weekend celebrating my friend’s wedding, but after three days of eating, drinking and staying up late dancing, it feels damn good to work up a sweat.

If you follow me on Instagram, you already saw a sneak peek of the aftermath of this workout (= me dead on the floor haha). I got a couple comments on the rug and couch, so I think it’s a perfect time to talk about Breather. Breather recently launched in Boston and is a service that allows you to rent rooms by the hour (or half hour) throughout the city for meetings, getting work done, relaxing or, as I used my breather, photoshoots!

The rooms have Wi-Fi, yoga mats, table space as well as couches, and are decorated in a sort of clean hipster fashion that I love. In addition to Boston, Breather is located in New York, San Francisco, Ottawa & Montreal. If you’re located in one of those cities, you can use the code PUMPIRON to get an hour free!

Power Wheel (or Slider) Ab Workout

Set a timer for 16 rounds of 20 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest. There are four exercises in this workout and you’ll go through them four times. You can make this workout as hard as you want by holding a forearm plank during the 10 seconds of “rest” instead of truly resting. When I did the workout, I made it through the first round of four exercises without resting and then took the 10-second break here and there as needed throughout the next three rounds.

Twisting Bear Oblique Crunches | Start in a plank position with your feet strapped into the power wheel. From here, bend your knees and roll them towards the right elbow, twisting from the waist. Roll back to plank and then crunch the knees in towards you left elbow, again twisting through the waist. As you crunch side to side, try to keep your hips at shoulder height (don’t sit your bum down towards your heels; you want the target oblique engaged and holding your hips up).

Plank to Pike | You can do this from your hands or forearms. Start in a plank position with your feet strapped into the power wheel. Keeping your legs straight, pike your hips up into the air, bringing your body into an upside down “v” shape. Once you hit your peak (if you have tight hamstrings, you may not be able to get your hips up very high—that’s ok!), slowly lower back down into plank position.

Army Crawl | With feet strapped into power wheel, start in a plank with your forearms at the end of an exercise mat. Army crawl your way up the length of the mat, one forearm in front of the other, maintaining the plank position as you roll forward. When you can no longer go any farther forward, reverse the motion, crawling your forearms backward towards the starting edge of the mat. As you move, try to keep your hips level in a plank. They’ll want to dip side to side with each step of the forearms; use your core strength to stabilize them.

Cobra Walking Planks | Start in a plank position with your feet strapped into a power wheel. From this starting position, you’re going to roll backward, maintaining your plank position and bending your elbows (think of a triceps dip: arms stay in close to your sides) so that you slowly lower down to a forearm plank. From here, do a walking plank, pressing up one hand at a time to straight arms so that you’re back in high plank and read to start your next rep. With the walking plank, try to alternate your lead hand every time so that you’re not always pressing up with your dominant arm.